PUHI — The Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School (CKMS) girls volleyball team broke a 16-16 deadlock in sudden death overtime to edge the Waimea Canyon Middle School girls 17-16 during lunchtime volleyball at the Kilohana Covered Playcourt.
Earlier, the Waimea Canyon Middle School boys capitalized on hitting and defense to sneak past the CKMS boys 16-14 in a game format that was limited to 12 minutes due to the lunch hour.
“It was close,” said Jennifer Hreljac, a CKMS teacher and coach of Kaua‘i High School tennis. “Both games went down to the wire, and in the girls’ match, sudden death.”
Players on both school’s teams were “All-Stars” for the intramural final match played on Tuesday during lunch at the CKMS Kilohana Covered Playcourt, sparked by an opening oli from the CKMS Hawaiian Class and an inter-game haka.
Tahara‘a Stein, the CKMS assistant principal, announced that CKMS and Waimea Canyon MS have teamed up to host its second intramural athletic tournament.
“As you know, Kaua‘i island does not have middle school sports through school. This creates a barrier for students who want to play, but may not have the funds or support to play on community teams outside of school,” Stein said.
”We have, therefore, been running our own school lunchtime sports for three years. This is the first year we have partnered with another middle school to run intramurals.”
A parent who traveled from Waimea to watch the short all-in tournament, said Honolulu has middle school sports that put their students way ahead of Kaua‘i’s kids, who have to rely on the community programs for experience.
She said, as an example, Ho‘oikaika Volleyball just hosted one of its biggest tournaments with 39 teams participating over the Memorial Day weekend. Of those 39 teams, 31 were Kaua‘i teams.
Coach Dino Pabre of Westside Basketball also hosted a basketball tournament for boys and girls in Grades 6, and Grade 8 over the weekend at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
The tournament resulted in one Kaua‘i team, the Team Lihu‘e Storm, winning the Sixth Grade Girls Division, a Kona team winning the Sixth Grade Boys Division, and the Maui Rebels taking both the eighth grade boys and girls division.
“We try to follow the lead of high school sports, and we require our players to have appropriate grades, attendance and behavior data in order to play,” Stein said. “This has worked out well, and students have stepped up their behavior in order to be eligible to participate.”
